The bodies of eight of the 10 thieves lynched by a mob of villagers were recovered at Konharaghat, Vaishali district, Bihar, on Sunday exposing police claims that the thieves were cremated according to Hindu rituals.

Taking serious note after the recovery of eight bodies that were half-eaten by dogs, Bihar government immediately transferred Vaishali District Magistrate Lalan Singh and Superintendent of Police Anupama Nirlekar. Besides, the government suspended three officials including Vaishali District Welfare Officer S B Mathur, Officer in charge of Hajipur town police station R K Singh and Officer in charge of Rajapaker police station Vibha Kumari.

The new DM Partima Verma and new SP Parash Nath took charge on Sunday evening and hed a review meeting on the progress in the case following the recovery of eight bodies.

Sources in Vaishali district told rediff.com that a group of villagers recovered eight bodies of the 10 thieves lynched near the river bed at Konharaghat.

"The recovery of the eight bodies of the thieves lynched sent shockwaves as the police had claimed that they were cremated," a local villager Muneshwar Yadav said.

Yadav said it appears that the police threw the bodies of at least eight of the 10 thieves lynched by villagers into the river instead of cremating them.

Police officials claimed on Saturday that the bodies of 10 lynched thieves were cremated at at Konharaghat on Friday night.

After the post-mortem examination by a team of doctors, the police took their bodies to Konharaghat for cremation.

Police officials said that a minor Vikranta, 12 years old, son of one of the victims, performed the funeral rites and lit the pyres of the 10 thieves at Konharaghat.

However, the recovery of the eight bodies have exposed the claims of the Bihar police.

Taking this lapse into account, the state government has suspended the officer incharge of the local police station.

A team of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes has begun a probe into the lynching.

Alarmed at the increasing number of cases of mob brutality in the state, the Bihar government has decided to impose a fine on the entire village if its residents take the law in their own hands while dealing with criminal offenders.

Several cases of public fury against criminal offenders have been reported from Bihar in the last one month.

A mob had gouged out the eyes of three young men in Nawada district on Monday for stealing a motorcycle.

In another incident, two minor boys were beaten and their heads tonsured partially for stealing detergent powder from a shop in Nawada.

A youth, who had snatched a gold chain from a woman, was badly beaten up by a mob at Nathnagar in Bhagalpur on August 28.